Masters Of War

Come you masters of war You that build all the guns You that build the death planes You that build all the bombs You that hide behind walls You that hide behind desks I just want you to know I can see through your masks. You that never done nothin' But build to destroy You play with my world Like it's your little toy You put a gun in my hand And you hide from my eyes And you turn and run farther When the fast bullets fly. Like Judas of old You lie and deceive A world war can be won You want me to believe But I see through your eyes And I see through your brain Like I see through the water That runs down my drain. You fasten all the triggers For the others to fire Then you set back and watch When the death count gets higher You hide in your mansion' As young people's blood Flows out of their bodies And is buried in the mud. You've thrown the worst fear That can ever be hurled Fear to bring children Into the world For threatening my baby Unborn and unnamed You ain't worth the blood That runs in your veins. How much do I know To talk out of turn You might say that I'm young You might say I'm unlearned But there's one thing I know Though I'm younger than you That even Jesus would never Forgive what you do. Let me ask you one question Is your money that good Will it buy you forgiveness Do you think that it could I think you will find When your death takes its toll All the money you made Will never buy back your soul. And I hope that you die And your death'll come soon I will follow your casket In the pale afternoon And I'll watch while you're lowered Down to your deathbed And I'll stand over your grave 'Til I'm sure that you're dead.------- Bob Dylan 1963

Some 24 hours before he arrives in the United States on his first visit to the country as prime minster, the U.S. Federal Court of the Southern District of New York issued a summons against Narendra Modi regarding his alleged involvement in the 2002 Godhra riots, in his home state of Gujarat. The summons requires Modi to respond within 21 days of receipt, barring which the court will decide in default against Modi for the damages sought by the plaintiffs. According toThe Hindu, the summons “charges PM Modi with committing crimes against humanity, extra-judicial killings, torture and inflicting mental and physical trauma on the victims, mostly from the Muslim community.”READ MORE

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

DATE IMPORTED: May 17, 2014, An Islamist Syrian rebel group Jabhat al-Nusra fighter talks on a walkie-talkie while carrying his weapon on the Al-Khazan front line of Khan Sheikhoun, northern Idlib province, May 17, 2014. Reuters/Hamid Khatib

The Khorasan group, which the U.S. says was planning a terror attack in the West, is still largely mysterious -- but one thing that is clear, according to United Nations documentsconsulted by International Business Times, is that the man thought to be its leader has deep connections to Jabhat al-Nusra, al Qaeda's offshoot in the Syrian civil war.

Muhsin al Fadhli was arrested in Kuwait in 2003 and then released; he went on to a remarkable career in the top echelons of al Qaeda. Some of the al Qaeda leaders he has been linked to have also been arrested by other Middle Eastern governments but subsequently released, according to UN documents. Fadhli may have been killed in the airstrikes on Syria this week -- reports have differed.

"We believe the Khorasan group was nearing the final stages of an attack in Europe or the homeland," Gen. William Mayville, the Joint Staff director of operations, said at a Pentagon briefing Tuesday. The group "is clearly not focused on either the Assad regime or the Syrian people."

The man wholse full name appears in UN documents as Muhsin Fadhil Ayed Ashour al-Fadhli arrived in Syria last year. Rebels in Syria told the International Business Times that “no one” in the opposition had heard of the group before the U.S. airstrikes began earlier this week.

Monday, September 22, 2014

This is the second part in a three part series. Click here for Part 1.

I Introduction

The British Foreign Secretary told Parliament on February 18, 1947 that "there is no prospect of resolving this conflict by any settlement negotiated between the parties." Further, he said, according to the League of Nations mandate, the legal basis for Britain's rule over Palestine, Britain did not have the authority to partition the country as everyone thought would be necessary. Thus, the British government had decided to turn the problem over to the United Nations. The Foreign Secretary did not mention, but it was obviously a significant factor, that Britain could no longer afford to keep nearly 100,000 troops employed in an increasingly vain effort to keep the peace in what was in comparison to India a relatively unimportant area.

- See more at: http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/156808#sthash.OCGrEPMu.dpufREAD MORE

The Sewol, a South Korean passenger-cargo ferry that was carrying 476 people—including a group of high school students on a field trip to Jeju Island—capsized on April 16, 2014, and sank to the bottom of the sea off Korea’s southern coast.

The Korean Coast Guard rescued most of the crew, including the captain, and some of the passengers. Before the Coast Guard or the Navy arrived on the scene, fishing boats and commercial vessels saved other passengers who happened to be on the deck or escaped soon after the capsizing. The rest were, unfortunately, trapped inside and sank together with the ferry. 294 were later found dead, and 10 are still “missing” almost 5 months after their disappearance.

The ship’s sinking may seem an unfortunate accident, and the passengers’ deaths its tragic ending. Once the surface is scratched, however, a more complicated picture emerges.

The Sewol sank under the weight of the neoliberal state that diminished its role in safety regulation and oversight. Its passengers drowned to death because the state relegated the rescue operation to a private salvage firm and prioritized its own interests over those of the passengers. But when victims’ families demanded the truth, the strong state reared its menacing head by deploying its force to silence them and mobilizing its resources to hide its responsibility.

The Korean state’s deregulation and dereliction combined to create the perfect storm that sent the Sewol and its passengers to the bottom of the sea. The state’s intimidation has suggested that a cover-up is under way to obscure the state’s responsibility, contrary to President Park Geun-Hye’s public promise to get to the bottom of the accident.

This one wrapped around the portal’s entrance façade and was located just under the heads of visitors entering the shrine. It bore a remarkable message, for it named the twelve Imams of the Shi’a alongside the four Rightly Guided Caliphs of the Sunnis, and, by using calligraphy of similar size and style and directly juxtaposing the two inscriptions, it visually equated the two groups of holy men. At the end, in clear, bold script, he wrote an unambiguously worded entreaty: “May God be pleased with all the Companions of His Prophet.” And with these words, al-Zahir carved in stone a sentiment that powerfully reflects the nuanced, negotiated sectarian history of Islam in Syria and elsewhere in the Islamic world.

- See more at: http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/156831#sthash.yK9NZRDD.dpufREAD MORE

North Korea and South Korea are more alike than this famous satellite photo would have you believe. (Photo: NASA / Flickr)

You’ve seen those nighttime satellite pictures of the Korean peninsula. The northern half is dark, while the southern half is a thousand points of light. You might think: hat’s off to those thrifty North Koreans who are helping save the planet by conserving electricity!

But of course, that’s not the message you’re supposed to take away with you. The nighttime map is supposed to be a visual representation of what we intuitively feel to be the political, economic, and social reality of this divided land. The people of North Korea live a benighted existence in a totalitarian environment, where the entire population experiences the “lights out” of a labor camp or a detention facility. The people of South Korea, meanwhile, are just like us, staying up all night to eat, drink, dance, and party. The North is Gulag style, while the South is Gangnam Style.

The reality of the Korean peninsula is, of course, vastly more complicated than these either-or contrasts. Stop thinking of the peninsula as two completely distinct halves, with barbed wire running down the middle. At the very least, think of Korea as the Taoist yin-yang symbol: two cupped apostrophes, one black and one white and each containing a dot of the other’s color. There’s a little yin in yang and a little yang in yin.

Friday, September 12, 2014

A recent Amnesty International report documented how previous incidents where civilians were killed during US/NATO military operations have not been properly investigated. Incidents involving likely war crimes have not led to prosecutions. “The lack of accountability for killings of civilians by US/NATO forces in Afghanistan sends a message that foreign troops have free rein to commit abuses in Afghanistan and that the lives of Afghan civilians have little or no value,” said Richard Bennett, Asia-Pacific Director at Amnesty International.

Observed late on Wednesday, the storm is moving towards Earth at a medium-to-fast rate of about 2.5 million mph (4.02 million kph), said forecaster Tom Berger, meaning the soonest it can arrive is early on Friday (US time). MORE

Thursday, September 11, 2014

King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud (R) and US Secretary of State John Kerry wait for a meeting at the King's private residence June 27, 2014 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The kingdom has reportedly signaled its willingness to provide bases to train Syrian opposition fighters to counter the rise of the Islamic State, or ISIS. Getty Images

An ISIS fighter in Iraq in June, 2014. Saudi Arabia has indicated its willingness to host a training program for moderate Syrian opposition forces to counter the threat posed by the Islamic State. REUTERS

King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud (R) and US Secretary of State John Kerry wait for a meeting at the King's private residence June 27, 2014 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The kingdom has reportedly signaled its willingness to provide bases to train Syrian opposition fighters to counter the rise of the Islamic State, or ISIS. Getty Images

An ISIS fighter in Iraq in June, 2014. Saudi Arabia has indicated its willingness to host a training program for moderate Syrian opposition forces to counter the threat posed by the Islamic State. REUTERS

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Saudi Arabia has indicated its willingness to provide bases to train moderate Syrian opposition fighters to combat the Islamic State, or ISIS, at the request of the United States, according to reports.

President Obama spoke with Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Wednesday, hours before laying out his strategy to combat the militant group, who have taken control of huge swathes of Iraq and Syria. The White House said: “The president and the king agreed on the need for increased training and equipping of the moderate Syrian opposition.”

While the Saudis would be hosting the training program on their soil, the actual training of fighters would most likely be carried out by another country -- possibly the U.S.

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Congressman Massie has described the classified chapter as "shocking".

"I had to stop every couple pages and just sort of absorb, and try to rearrange my understanding of history for the past 13 years, and years leading up to that," he told a press conference earlier this year.

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

In a poignant tribute, the archival materials of the great Phil Ochs, whose passion for social justice we could use these days, have been donated to Tulsa's Woody Guthrie Center, the first artist other than Guthrie to join a collection honoring music that "gives voice to the voiceless." Dubbed "a true son" of Guthrie, Ochs left us too soon, committing suicide at 35. But his fearless furious songs of the 1960s and 70s live on - hear his iconic The War Is Over or Power and the Gloryfor proof - and remain as painfully relevant as ever. The full PBS documentary There But For Fortune and the newly released CDPhil Ochs Live Again remind us how much we're missing. (source)

'For a guy who claims to be a realist, Kissinger sure doesn’t seem to recognize the real conditions nation-states are currently facing,' writes Niemela. (Photo: Gero Breloer/AP)

The re-emergence of former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and his latest book, “World Order,” has prompted accolades and resentments from across the political spectrum. “World Order” is realism re-emerging in a time of American idealistic, “moral” foreign policy. Kissinger campaigns once again for the Westphalian model of world peace in which nation-states draw borders, balance power, demonstrate mutual respect for sovereignty and work to manage conflict, and peace, accordingly.

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